Ever since I heard about its existence, I have been waiting eagerly to pay a visit. What else could be heaven for a shoe crazy girl like me ??
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The Bata Shoe Museum is located in the heart of Toronto, Canada. If you love fashion and culture, it's a must place to visit. (Forget that. If you are a lady you can't miss this museum:D)
Never have I thought that so much cultural, social, and historic facts are associated with shoes. It was founded by Sonja Bata, wife of Thomas J. Bata and her main aim was to establish a research centre for footwear. Museum has four galleries out of which three of them host changing exhibitions throughout the year.
When I visited, one of the gallery hosted shoe collection by Manolo Blahnik's, the famous Spanish designer who have won many awards and founder of high end brand shoes for women. And to this day he makes only handmade shoes.
This one is my favorite !!! Photos are not doing much justice here. In real they are more bright and sparkly and elegant looking
I guess I have seen those thigh high boots on one of those Kardasian models. His footwears are adorned by celebrities and have appeared in many movies.
Ball heels !!!
High heeled sandal without heels !!!! Interesting.
His creativity and imagination is amazing !!
Next was a collection of glittering gold shoes from around the world, which includes ancient as well as glisteing modern sneakers. Have a look !!
Golden winged Jeremy Scott x Adidas sneakers
Some ancient golden collections.
Second one on the top is a royal shoe of the Burmese dynasty. The third one belongs to Paramount chiefs of the Akan. Their feet are never to touch the ground and many sandal-bearers accompany them in case they broke the current one. The chameleon is a symbolic representation for "earth is like the skin of a chameleon, it changes fast"
I think no explanation is needed for India's obsession with gold ;) The last one is an Italian chopine,a wooden platform embellished with beads and golden silk and lace. Interesting !!!
Next are traditional footwear collections from the Arctic region.
Greenland collection. Boots are made from seal skin and has inner lining of polar bear fur. Clear differentiation between men's and women's boot are marked by the colours used.Women have more colours and patterns and they are thigh high boots, while men wear black and white, calf length boots.
The Alaskan collection .
Those are seal intestine parka !!! Made from strips of seal intestine sewn together. They are light weight but extremely tough and waterproof.
These are snow goggles which protects from sun's reflection of snow and water. I am thinking of getting one hah!!! 😎 It does really hurts the eyes when sun shines brightly on the fallen snow.
Next is one of the permanent and most interesting collection of the museum.
This bone chilling looking 😆 (but the most innocent one) shoes from France was loved by everyone then!! Its sole purpose was to crush chestnut, which was an important source of food that days.
Beak shoes with a long pointed toe popular among the upper class in Europe.
Astronauts shoe
These unusually high , silver engraved Paduka's from Jaipur, India were worn by women in the top society for wedding or special occastions.
'1' are hollow silver anklets. '2' are a pair of ankle bracelets from Gujarat,India featuring 'Makara'/water beasts. Fish shaped toe ring from Orissa.
I can't exactly remember the story behind the above two gorgeous heavy looking sandals(it's been a while since the visit) But I think it was worn by women in sauna or something like that, and the high heels are to protect the feet from the heat.
These Japanese Pokkuri were worn by young girls on special occasions. Made of wood and hollow inside, fixed with small bells inside the heels which makes tinkling sound while walking. The golden cranes around are symbols of longevity.
The most interesting part of the museum !! Some interesting shoes for the visitors to try on. Had fun trying on this 'no shoe' shoes 😎
I myself owns a few pair of crazy bright,shiny, glittery, strapy footwear.Hahh😎😎 Nobody gets the fashion sense.If given a chance I would love to try each and every shoe in this museum !!! Which one was your favorite ???
[Sorry about the image links appearing here and there. I am trying to fix it. But it looks fine in the editor. No idea what's going on]
!steemitworldmap 43.667274 lat -79.400166 long Bata Shoe Museum CT d3scr
Until next time
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